Stock soars for receiver, lineman at NFL combine

Ask personnel people who attended the Indianapolis scouting combine to name one player on each side of the ball who improved his ranking the most, and the consensus would be Georgia Tech receiver Stephen Hill and Memphis defensive tackle Dontari Poe.

Hill has that rare combination of size (6-4, 215) and speed (4.36), and he impressed the scouts with his hands, too. He excelled in the drills and may have vaulted into the first round.

“Hill killed it,” NFL Network draft analyst Mike Mayock said. “I had a bunch of scouts tell me before the combine this kid might blow the roof off of it, and he did.”

Hill was tied for the second-fastest receiver behind Syracuse’s Dorian Graham (4.32). Receivers were the fastest players at the combine. Of the nine players who ran below 4.40, six were receivers.

And none improved his stock like Hill, who caught only 28 passes at Georgia Tech, which played the triple option. He averaged 29.3 yards a catch. He could follow in the footsteps of his former teammate and mentor, Demaryius Thomas, who was drafted in the first round by Denver.

“The tough thing with Hill is coming out of that option offense, he’s hard to evaluate,” Mayock said. “We went through this with Demaryius Thomas.

“The point is his acceleration, burst, quickness and even more important to me, OK, now you’ve shown me you’re an athletic track star.”

The field is wide open after the top three receivers — Oklahoma State’s Justin Blackmon, Notre Dame’s Michael Floyd and Baylor’s Kendall Wright. With his pro day and private workout, Hill could close in on that group.

“When he got on the field and caught the football, he didn’t double-catch balls,” Mayock said. “He made hands catches out in front of him. From a football perspective, every team in the league now has a lot of homework to do.”

Poe (6-3½, 346) skyrocketed into the first round with his amazing workout. He bench-pressed 225 pounds 44 times, more than any other player at the combine. Then he ran the 40 in 4.98. Later, Poe impressed the scouts even more by excelling in the agility drills.

“I’ve been working out for it and thought it would be a good idea to do it all,” Poe said.

With his quickness, strength and agility, Poe should be the ideal two-gap 3-4 nose tackle. He was compared to Pittsburgh’s Casey Hampton.

“He’s been in the NFL for a long time,” Poe said. “It’s a great feeling, because everyone knows he’s a great player, a Pro Bowl-caliber player.

“I see myself as someone who can rush the passer a lot more than people think. I’m used to playing nose tackle, but I’m pretty comfortable anywhere on the defensive line.”